As big tech companies intensify their push with cloud-based AI agents, futurist Bernard Marr (버나드 마) has drawn attention by stressing the strategic value of installable AI agents such as OpenClo for corporate executives.

In a recent post on his website, he highlighted OpenClo as a possible alternative that could solve problems companies face around AI agents.

OpenClo is an open-source platform for building and deploying autonomous AI agents. Anyone with the technical capability can create and run an agent. Agents running on OpenClo interpret instructions, plan how to achieve goals and interact with external systems. Unlike existing software that waits for commands, they handle tasks on their own around the clock once assigned.

Just as adoption of open-source technologies such as Linux, Apache and WordPress drove the internet boom, Marr believes the democratisation of agent technology could play a similar role in the AI era.

He said companies face 4 major challenges related to AI agents.

The first is the issue of control. "If you run agents on cloud services such as Salesforce Agentforce and Microsoft Azure, you are vulnerable to external variables such as service outages, changes in terms and conditions, and price increases. Open-source frameworks are an alternative that lets you fully control agents on your own infrastructure," he said.

The second is cyber security. "Existing security tools were designed to detect and block attacks by humans. Agents can continuously scan for vulnerabilities and carry out fully automated attacks," he said. "Most companies do not properly understand the scale of this threat," he said.

The third is governance and compliance. "Existing compliance processes were designed for humans. Since agents cannot be fully trusted either, the processes need to be updated," he said.

The fourth is a cultural transition. "As machines take on routine tasks, the nature of work itself changes. Employees need to shift from task-focused thinking to goal-focused thinking. The value of people who think strategically is higher than ever," he said.

Bernard Marr said most organisations have a large gap between thinking they are ready to seize the opportunity of agent AI and how prepared they actually are. "The ability to narrow this gap is becoming a core leadership capability. The biggest risk is not preparing, and this could lead to rapidly losing competitive advantage," he said.